Weekend Buzz

April 28, 2015April 27, 2015 | cheriarmour

I’m sitting here, drinking some stomach easing tea out of my Jesus Shaves mug after a weekend FULL of bad food, some travel, and did I mention bad food?

Thursday night, I pulled my usual, and stayed late to work to finish up some emails and work because this past weekend was my mother-in-law’s birthday. But no before I got the chance to treat myself to a little goodness…

After a few months of wishing and waiting (I’m pretty sure they announced just around my birthday last year that this watch was gonna be a thing), I finally got my hands on a Fitbit Surge, the activity tracker with the GPS and HR monitor built in, and spent a little bit of time setting it up. As you can see from the above picture, I was working on the group fitness schedule for May at the same time that I was charging the new guy and figuring out how to sync it with my phone. (Don’t worry, a full review to come)!

After I worked for a little while on Friday, Austin and I headed to Charlotte to go to his mom’s house for her 60th birthday. After we got caught in a ton of traffic on the way, when we got there, I immediately went for a glass of wine, and we sat down and talked and visited for a while before heading to bed that night.

Saturday morning, history was made when I ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes for breakfast. I never eat cereal for one (I would always find myself feeling really hungry and a little sluggish), and I don’t really consider Frosted Flakes appropriate breakfast food, but they taste SO damned good, I just went for it, and it was worth every syrupy bite. Seriously, caloric intake aside, there is nothing better than Frosted Flakes and cold milk.

After I ate, and did some work at the kitchen table, I headed out to the Siskey YMCA, the Y close to my childhood for two reasons. One, to get a workout in, and two, to sort of see how they did a couple of things that we were struggling with at our branch. I came on a really good day because the day before they had gotten this thing in…

This is the Treadwall, which is sort of like a treadmill, but you can rock club on it. As it turns out, I’m a pretty decent rock climber, and both before and after my run, I hopped on the wall for a few minutes.

I sort of got nosy and looked into how much one of these might cost for us. It’s being sold for the low-low price of 11k. Woops.

After I got my workout in and poked around the Y, we celebrated Sharon’s birthday with loads of barbecue food, and we visited with a few of her neighbors. Once again that night, I completely fell fast asleep while Austin hung out with his brother.

On Sunday morning, we headed to brunch at the same place we went after my hen party last year, Bistro La Bon, and we met my parents there to celebrate for Sharon. My mom was really cool, and got Sharon a present and sang her happy birthday.

We finished out the weekend by watching Bruce Jenner’s interview when we got home.

If this interview is still sitting in your DVR, you have to watch it. It’s a really well-done, personal look at a person struggling with his gender identity. Any question you could possibly have, Jenner answers with grace. It’s educational, and I’m hoping by his coming forward, that someone else struggling with the same issues feels comfortable even saying those words and doesn’t have to wait 60+ years to feel comfortable enough to do it.

Okay, all of that was a lot. What did YOU do this weekend?

Healthy Living Bloggers (HLBs)

April 23, 2015April 22, 2015 | cheriarmour

I consider myself something of a lifestyle/healthy living blogger. And I am perfectly transparent in what experiences/education that I feel make me at all qualified to dish on all that I dish on.

Here’s what I got real quick so you guys know where I’m coming from.

Studied Psychology in undergrad.
Studied Social Work, focused heavily on health and weight loss.
Worked two full summers at a weight loss camp, spent time, after I got full-time work, at weight loss camp with my kids.
Worked for Fleet Feet (running specialty) for…well I never really stopped. I backed off of full-time when I was employed as a Director at a local nonprofit facility….
I am Director of Group Fitness.
Been teaching group fitness for over 5 years. Zumba® Fitness, Toning, Step, Cycling, Body Pump™. You name it I teach it.
Also, I lost some like 35-40ish pounds I put on in college and while in a terribly volatile relationship.

This isn’t to say, like “la la la, I’m so fancy, I know all this stuff,” it’s more to say, I know some of what I’m talking about. I still have bunches to learn, and I will never claim that candy, wine, and coffee never cross my lips, cause they totally do. But I’m increasingly troubled by the rise of the “healthy” living blogger, or HLB, especially the sort that doesn’t work out, lost weight on potentially unhealthy and unsustainable methods, and then touts the weird crap they eat as healthy to unsuspecting followers.

Enter…well…let me know say her name, because I’m not here to embarrass anyone, but, she’s sort of what I described above. Maybe a nice girl, but really in no place to be telling other folks what to be putting in their bodies to lose weight – and not because she hasn’t found success, but because what works for her simply may not work or be healthy for every body.

So the other day, aforementioned blogger posts a picture of a salad with what looked to be about 5 tablespoons of ranch dressing on it.

There’s nothing wrong with a salad, I think salads are amazing and awesome, but not only did she douse the salad in ranch dressing, but she very literally stated…

“The ranch is intentional…it’s a great source of healthy fat!”

And then when a follower questioned her on it, she then stated, ” The oil, eggs and cream found in ranch dressing are all healthy fats.”

Let me break it down for you really quickly. Ranch gets like a D- from nutritionists. It’s FULL of fat (and not the good kind), and even fuller of sodium. There is not a nutritionist on God’s green earth who would EVER list Ranch as a healthy fat. And FURTHERMORE the serving size is like 1 tbs. Not 5. Or whatever’s going on there.

All that to say, please, please, please, when you’re following HLBs, keep a few things in mind.

We’re human. We lose weight, we gain weight. We run a good race. We run a bad race. Some of us have suffered with eating disorders. Some of us just like to write! Please don’t look to us as the gospel.
Please be discerning. How does (s)he know what (s)he is talking about? Did they do something idiotic like go on diet pills? Do they look as if they have some sort of eating disorder? Are they copious drug/alcohol users? DO THEY WORK OUT?! No? Probably not someone you need to be looking to for diet advice, and I think it’s important for us to recognize that in ourselves as the blogger.
Call us on it. Do you see something on the blog that doesn’t seem right? Doesn’t make sense? Email us, leave a comment, or ask a genuine question.

QOTD

On a more positive note, who are some of your favorite HLBs?

Pho Pho Pho

April 17, 2015April 16, 2015 | cheriarmour

Hi lovers! I know it has been a few days, but it was a few well-needed days of rest that I spent with my dad between DC and New Jersey. More on that later.

But I wanted to touch base about something I talked about after last weekend, when my quest to find pho, a Vietnamese soup, was finally somewhat resolved. Also ramen.

So about two years ago, when I was training for my first marathon, I swear (and barely anyone remembers this, so it’s almost unbelievable), that Whole Foods, in their sushi section, had bowls of real ramen, with an egg and everything in it. I ate it religiously as “second lunch” as I was ridiculously hungry during the training cycle, and seemed to do well with the sodium.

Soon after, WF set up a pho station, complete with fresh jalapenos, and I went on the quest to find a bowl of pho and real ramen somewhere in the Triangle.

Saturday morning, after we’d worked at the expo, some of the folks posted some pics from a spot called Pho Pho Pho on Facebook, and the decision was made then, especially after one of the folks there told me that the Sake Sangria was on point. I mean, duh.

So after a short convincing period, Austin and I headed out to Pho Pho Pho on Glenwood, that was so new (about 4 weeks old), that it didn’t really have a sign out front, and I had to rely on an old episode of bar rescue to find it. Totally not joking about that, but that place was a total creepy dump before.

Anyhoo, so we got there, immediately ordered a few drinks, and got to ordering on the menu from this adorable server who had a smile permanently on!

This is what I ended up with – a pho ramen mashup that only cost about $10, but came out in a bowl that was without a doubt large enough for two meals. I ate as much as I could, then poured the rest away for lunch the next day.

My verdict after waiting for like a year or two for some legit pho is that this place is legit. Good soup, good noodles, and great drinks, and I can’t wait to go again. (Seriously, I asked Austin to take me again tomorrow.)

Now, since pho is such an awesome sore throat/replenish your sodium food….what’s your favorite sick food?

The worst April Fool’s Joke Ever

April 2, 2015April 1, 2015 | cheriarmour

First, I have to address the fact that I truly feel that Jesus is smiling down on me with all of the pop culture goodness that has been bestowed upon me this week. All culminating to the Roast of Justin Bieber that popped off on Monday night.

Now I’m going to be the first to admit, that I love me some Bieber, and saw him in concert from the nosebleeds with a friend, also in her 20s at the time. The concert was awesome, and the best part was the entire thing.

Now, I had some apprehensions about this roast. I mean it seems like a pretty transparent attempt to take a beating for acting like an ass these past few years (all of which I heartily enjoyed, including his deposition tapes, where he wore a curtain-inspired jacket and mouthed off to officers of the law. Now, I’m not big on spanking, but that child needs a hearty ass whopping. I’ll give it to him 😉

Now the finest part, the part that renews my faith in the ridiculousness of humanity, was when Bieber-dummy was lowered in a harness while a Gospel Choir sang him in. About 3/4ths of the way down, Bieber plummeted to the ground. I shouldn’t have been laughing, but I was.

Moving right along…

So yesterday was April Fool’s. I’m really not big on pranks. They make me upset. Except, of course, when Justin Timberlake was told that the IRS would be seizing his possessions, and he cried after the officer stepped on his acoustic guitar. Other than that, I really don’t appreciate pranks, because I don’t like being scared or thinking that I’ve ruined someone’s life. Call me old-fashioned.

So in 2005, my parents were driving me back from Pittsburgh, as I was slated to attend the University of Pittsburgh. Spoiler Alert: I ended up at Elon, and was beyond pleased with my decision. I would probably be very chilly had I gone to Pittsburgh. But driving back from Pitt, I got a call on my flip phone from my sister.

“Hey…your job called. ”

I was working for Atlanta Bread Company, my first job, and was so proud of myself. I worked hard, and at the end of the evenings, when the night was over, my manager would allow us to take treats from the bakery home in a brown paper bag, which me and my mom loved, because we have a wicked sweet tooth.

“They said you’re fired. Something about you taking something? Were you allowed to take the bakery?”

I was freaking out. I kept screeching, “What?!” My mom was flipping out and all of a sudden, after I’d been allowed to freak out for a minute or two…

“April Fools!”

I looked at the phone in disbelief when my mom snatched it from me.

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO SOMEONE WORKING THEIR FIRST JOB? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”

And that, my friends, is the worst prank every played on me.

Any of you had jokes played?

(Responsible) Pet Ownership

March 31, 2015March 30, 2015 | cheriarmour

Two Saturdays ago, I peeked out into the yard and noticed a large black pinscher mix in the yard. I was on the porch, and thankfully, Coco wasn’t outside with me because the dog seemed to be truly unhappy that I was in her space. I’m assuming her, I could be completely wrong. Anyhoo, so I looked at her, she looked at me, and she began to growl and bark, seemingly guarding my own yard against me.

I put two and two together, and realized the dog belonged to a neighbor. We’d had problems with these dogs before. Often, when we’re working out in the yard, the dogs will run back and forth behind their fence, barking and growling. It’s always made me nervous, but at the same time, I’ve trusted in the fence to hold the dogs back.

So the dog shows up in the yard, very unhappy to see me. I sort of squealed for Austin, who was at work in the office.

“Babe! Babe! There’s a black dog in the yard!”

I heard him scramble to his feet, and run onto the porch where I was. The dog continued to be nasty, but didn’t get any closer. And as suddenly as the dog appeared, I heard a female voice call the dog back, and the dog was gone. I was a bit rattled, but didn’t think much of it.

On Saturday, prior to me running around in the State Park, I let Coco out. She’s old and addled with anxiety so she won’t go far. And just as soon as I let her out, she turned around and began pounding the door. I looked, and right behind here was his big black dog. This time, mere feet from the door.

“Babe! That dog is back!”

Austin was pissed. The dog was pissed. So he slipped by the dog, and went to the neighbor’s door to knock and ask them to bring their dog inside and not let it come back. And of course, no one was home.

We were at a loss. The dog was just being a dog, but was a potential danger to me, but more so to Coco, who, despite her wild amount of adorableness, is a senior dog, and would be killed. I mean, she has like four teeth (we had to get a few pulled when we got her for her health), and that bitch had a full mouthful of teeth from what I could tell. We shouldn’t have to deal with someone else’s dog coming into our yard where we pay our mortgage to make us afraid.

We called an officer down, who pounded on the door. They first ignored him, and opened when they realized it was an officer of the law. The officer asked us if we wanted to witness a citation, but we declined, hoping that the officer coming around would be enough to get the message. But in reality, I’m not afraid of a lot, and I’m afraid that the dog will attack me, or worse, Coco. I can take care of myself, but I’m supposed to care for Coco. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her.

I’m not sure what to do. I’m hoping the neighbors got the hint, and it won’t be an issue. But I have some nagging worry that every time I’m out in the yard, that dog will show up.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this except to express my discomfort. I’m uncomfortable with this situation, but don’t want the dog “punished” necessarily, but I need for them to step up. I don’t want to do anything that will get that dog sent to the shelter, but I can’t be comfortable with her running around.

What do you guys think?

Totaling a car.

March 25, 2015March 24, 2015 | cheriarmour

Stay with me on this post. It seems a little weird, but stay with me. [Also, don’t be a dumbass, I’m not a lawyer, or an expert, but this is a loose guide to what needs to happen to you when you wreck your car.]

So a little over two month ago, I totaled my car. And seeing how it was the first time I totaled my car, I sort of went blindly into the entire process. So let me help you out cause accidents happen. Which I hate, but they do.

No one plans to total his or her car. However, if you plan to fail, blah blah blah.

So prior to totaling your car, maybe even back when you purchase the car, there are a few things that you MUST do in order to protect yourself in the event that you wreck your car a year, two years down the road.

Do you have a loan? If there is any way on God’s green earth you can avoid a loan, AVOID IT. Here’s why. If you still owe money on a car when you total it, you are still responsible for the money that is left on the loan. That’s where this comes in…
Gap insurance. When you purchase your car, and if you have to go the loan route you must purchase gap insurance. It’s something that should be offered to you when you’re in the pit of hell that is the finance office at a dealership, but if it is not, ask about it. This will protect you. Let me explain. You buy a car, and you finance it. When you total the car (which I hope you don’t but hey, accidents happen), the insurance company will give you money for how much the car is CURRENTLY worth, often based on prices of similar models sold recently in your area. It will NOT automatically cover what is left on the loan (hello interest) which can really screw you. So get the gap insurance, which is pretty marginal, and will be added into your car payment.
Save every piece of documentation related to you car at the time of purchase, and get maintenance records on the car. If you have a loan, the bank who technically “owns” the car has the title. If you own the car outright, place the title, along with paperwork related to the car in a folder inside a fireproof safe in your house (which you need for all sorts of important things). DO NOT LOSE THAT TITLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

So a few years down the road, say you get into an accident. Here’s what you need to do, and what will happen.

You wreck your car. For those of you who are nosy (kidding!) I was completely at fault. I was preoccupied with what I viewed as a troubling reading on my blood pressure, and ran directly into the back of a Rubicon, which was unscathed.
Call the police. Whether you are at fault or not, call the police, and be completely honest with them about what has happened. Remain calm, because they will note if you’re acting like a weirdo on the report, and ask the police officer to provide you with this handy information exchange card with both yours and the other driver’s name on the card. Take pictures at this point, and get the officer’s name, just in case your accident results in any sort of lawsuit.
Once you get home or to somewhere safe where you are calm, call your insurance company armed with your policy number and information about the accident. Explain to them that you would like to open a claim. The person on the phone will likely not know what the heck they’re doing, and will take some precursory information. They will open a claim for you, and provide you with a claim number. Copy this down, and be prepared for your individual claims person to contact you in the day or so following.
Your claims adjuster has called you. He or she will ask you a few more in-depth questions about the accident. Now, in the case of my accident it was pretty cut and dry, and the accident was my fault. He asked for some details about the weather, then provided me with addresses and names to 3 or 4 preferred shops where they will look at your car and perform an estimate.
Get an estimate. You’ll drop your car off, and in a few days, they’ll give you and the insurance company an estimate. They might tell you that it will cost 2k to fix. They might tell you it’s totaled. In my case, it was totaled, so..
Go to get your personals out of the car. You have no idea when they’re going to haul your car off – I learned this the hard way and had to drive down to Fayetteville to a sketchy yard to get my things. Make sure to grab your tag.
The insurance company will send a letter to the bank, asking them to release the title to them. The bank will release the title. The gap insurance will kick in, paying off the remainder of your loan. And you’re done.

It’s a lot of steps, and it was a LOT to learn, but glad to know, and so thrilled to be able to share that info with other folks.

Now…have you ever gotten into an accident? Was it silly?

Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon – A New PR!

March 24, 2015March 23, 2015 | cheriarmour

I hope you have had a good weekend.

I did! Let’s lay it out right here in the beginning – I PR’ed at a half marathon on Sunday with a time of 1:55:40, at an average pace of 8:55 minutes per mile. Whew!

I can honestly say today that I am sore and hurting today. But more on that in a minute.

Weekend’s Beginning.

So I started the busy weekend off by heading over to Fleet Feet Raleigh, and working on Saturday, which I do from time to help them out. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that I get to be around a bunch of running stuff and running people. You really ARE the company you keep – it’s nice to be around a bunch of runners and not feel crazy once in a while.

So after my shift at FF, I headed out to Holden, where I spent the night with some friends. I was really paranoid about oversleeping the race, so I figured if I was with three other people who were running the race, it was nearly impossible to oversleep, right?

The Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon

The only thing I knew about this race was that it was flat. Previously, I had run one beach race before, the Shamrock Marathon, and it was a good experience, however, because it was at the beach in March, the weather was chilly and very windy. I was a little concerned that the same would happen this time because in the days leading up to the race, the weather app was looking pretty bad. Bad enough that I had to borrow some rain jackets from some of the staff at Fleet Feet.

So anyhoo, the morning of the race dawned….early. We had to wake up around 4:30am to drive to the shopping complex at the center of everything, and take a shuttle to the start, where we could run back to the center. It was warm-ish, like 51 degrees, and we headed out to the start on a trolley.

There were *ahem* facilities as far as the eye could see when we arrived, and I was able to quickly use the restroom before we started.

The race was flat, and the air was still. Because of how humid it was, I didn’t listen to music, and instead thought…a LOT since the humid air was causing my earbuds were slipping.

After the first mile, I looked down and noted that I was running a little fast. In the 8:20s. I tried to will myself to slow down, but kept things between the 8:30 mark and the 9:00 mark. It hurt – the course was really flat, and with the same muscles firing over and over, my quads and hips started to ache early on. Once I passed the halfway mark, and saw that I was holding that pace pretty steadily, I decided to push on for the following 6.5 miles, and held in there.

I quite obviously chugged a beer at mile 12.5ish, then pressed on to the finish, where I swung around to meet my friends. There was a beer stand, massages, pizza (not for me after a race), and most importantly, places to sit after the race!

This was Jeff's first marathon! — This was Jeff’s first marathon!

The race was good, ran smoothly. Unlike Tobacco Road, there wasn’t the profound congestion on the trail, so there was no need to bob and weave and waste energy throughout the race. Water stops were frequent, and were FUN. My favorite water stop was the ECU stop (they don’t call it a party school for nothing), where they’d rolled out a camper and blasted music for us to enjoy.

I’m sore. I’m happy. And I think I would do that race again.

What did you do last weekend?

Dealing with allergies.

March 23, 2015March 22, 2015 | cheriarmour

I live in a city where allergies are really prevalent. We’ve got Loblolly Pines, we’ve got oaks, we’ve got all this green stuff that just makes your life really mis in the spring. And there’s not a whole lot you can do about it…

Or is there?! ::plays mysterious music::

So, I’m no doctor, but I’ve been dealing with allergies for long enough that I’ve found ways to effectively deal with the issue.

1. Just because you’re outside all the time (especially my walkers/runners), doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself inside. But after you come it, make a beeline (GET IT?! Bees?! Pollen!) for the shower, and rinse any of that stuff off of yourself.

2. Wear contacts? Change them OFTEN. I wear those dailies, and I (admittedly) do not always change them as often as I should. But this is the season for you (and me!) to be taking those contacts out at the recommended intervals. If you are a glasses wearer, it’s a good time to flush your eyes (and the glass) with a drop. I’ve used both OTC, and something my eye doctor prescribed to me.

3. It’s time to get your neti pot out. I know it seems disgusting, but it feels great for a few reasons.

For one, you kind of rinse the physical dust, dirt, and pollen from your sinuses.
For two, I feel like it helps reduce some of the inflammation in your sinuses.
And for three, it feels AMAZING on a sore throat if you can get the angle right and get some of the warm water to come through the throat.

4. Figure out an allergy medication that works for you. For me, it’s Zyrtec. Which is expensive, but it doesn’t make me drowsy, and it handles my itchy eyeballs, sore throat, sinus swelling, and general foggy feeling. Start taking those meds EARLY. BEFORE you notice everything blooming.

5. It’s warm. It’s tempting to drive around with the windows open and leave all the windows in the house open. But if you’re suffering, it’s time to seal those suckers shut until the stuff stops blooming.

Those are my tippies for a more comfortable spring experience.

How do you combat allergies?

Terrified: thoughts before a half marathon.

March 16, 2015March 15, 2015 | cheriarmour

Want to hear something that really made me laugh hard yesterday?

This is so so rude, but I was at home sort of in the middle of the day because I’m on duty Thursday nights, and I was sending some emails and such, and listening to E! in the background, when I realized that they were playing all the episodes of KUWTK involving Kris Humphries in Bora Bora. Now the reason why this is so good and so rude is because clearly, Kim is no longer married to Kris (they only made it 72 days, which Austin and I celebrated as our “Kardashian Anniversary”), and Kimmy was the biggest asshole she’s ever been during the Kris era.

Exhibit A:

Now this particular scenario was really exquisite because Kris tosses Kim into the ocean…

Causing her head to slam against the ocean’s surface and her to lose her $75k diamond earrings. Instead of being a logical human, Kim begins to whimper, then cry, as she runs to and fro on the dock. When she tells Kourtney whats happening, Kourtney responds by telling her…

It must also be noted that the earrings were insured, so the tears were just extra.

The Kris era also ushered in this gem.

Now, I won’t bore you all day with the wonderful things that KUWTK has brought to my life, but suffice it to say, that I was entertained for a full at least 5 minutes.

I’m terrified.

I haven’t talked about it much here because of my fear of looking like a complete idiot, but I’m racing for the first time in a while on and it scares the piss out of me. Here are my thoughts before a half marathon.

Water? I should hydrate. Yes, hydrate. Water. Now. Water, some tea, some seltzer, more water.
Speaking of water, I should prep my water plan for tomorrow. Where’s my hydration backpack?
I’m not sure what they’re gonna have on the course, let me make sure that I pack some gels. But gel makes my stomach hurt. Maybe I should ask the chicks at Fleet Feet when I work what I should do.
What shoes am I going to wear? I don’t think the Glycerin is doing it for me anymore.
What do I eat for dinner with only a smidgen of fiber so I don’t poo my pants tomorrow.
Speaking of pants, what am I going to wear? I should lay that out.
Do I have any Coke around for after the race? Shit. Shit.
Also, what am I going to eat for breakfast tomorrow?

And then, I commence to not sleeping, or sleeping fitfully all night whilst dreaming that I’ve overslept and missed my race.

How was your weekend? What do you worry about before a big race/event?

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